Numerous anti-theft, portable automobile pedal locking devices for motor vehicles have been proposed over many years.
Most of these prior proposals have been directed to locking the brake pedal, including, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,710, issued 1998 to the present inventor, which comprises first and second shafts which can be adjusted axially to engage the vehicle floor as a stand-off and hooked under the brake pedal shaft, respectively, and then locked together to prevent depression of the brake pedal.
In a further proposal taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,846 issued 1996 by to Simon, the first and second axially adjustable shafts carry clamping plates which engage together over and under the brake pedal itself by manually tightening a screw for firm clasping.
In another proposal taught by U.S. Pat. No. 6,792,780, issued Sep. 21, 2004 to the present inventor, one shaft carries a wedging member which wedges the brake pedal into a claw carried by another shaft to help accommodate variations in brake pedal configuration and position.
However, these are relatively bulky devices and much of the brake pedal engaging mechanism remains visible for potential interference by a thief.
An alternative approach U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,868, issued 1994 to Villani, teaches substantially complete enclosure of a gas pedal by a box on a stand. Upper and lower halves of the box are pivoted at one end for movement together, clam shell fashion to enclose the gas pedal. However, a disadvantage of this approach is that variations in size of gas pedal and distance above the floor of the automobile cannot be accommodated and several different sizes would therefore be required for different automobiles.